"What? Prince Xun, Si Hengnian, isn't an orphan. He was born out of wedlock with someone before the wife of the royal merchant Qi family got married?"
"That's not the most shocking part! The daughter of the Prime Minister's family is actually Madam Qi's own daughter. She was switched with another child by Madam Qi herself when she was a wet nurse in the Prime Minister's mansion. She originally planned to keep it a secret for the rest of her life. If it weren't for seeing her two biological children get engaged, she wouldn't have told anyone."
"Yesterday, Prince Xun said he would only marry Miss Xu. Now that these siblings can't get married, does that mean Prince Xun will be single for the rest of his life?"
"Who would have thought they were siblings!"
"How ridiculous! Back then, Madam Qi switched the children, and none of the servants noticed?"
"Back then, Prime Minister Xu wasn't yet Prime Minister. His wife had given birth suddenly while she was at her parents' home. Since her family's power wasn't as great as her husband's, they naturally didn't take as good care of her."
"What a drama! Xu Huixin's reputation was already ruined by her affair with Prince Xun, and now it's been confirmed that they are siblings. She can't marry anyone else now, can she?"
"How can I get married now! If I hadn't broken off my engagement with General Feng Shao, I might have been able to extort some money from him. Now, even if I don't die of shame and indignation, I can only go to a nunnery to become a nun."
"That Madam Qi is truly a wicked woman."
"That's right. She had an affair before she got married, and the sons and daughters she had were all born with the same lineage. She's shameless."
If you were to ask what the biggest joke in the capital is right now, it would undoubtedly be the Prince Xun's Mansion and the Prime Minister's Mansion, which have always been at the center of public opinion. Now, the Qi family, a royal merchant family, has been added to the list. No one expected that a pair of passionate lovers would actually expose two previous scandals.
The most devastated were undoubtedly Si Hengnian and Xu Huixin. Upon learning the news, they felt as if they had been struck by lightning. Si Hengnian even wanted to tear his own mother, Madam Qi, to pieces on the spot.
"Huixin, I'm sorry, but the Qi family was poor back then, and I just wanted you to have a better life."
"You want your daughter to live a good life, but what about my daughter?" The Prime Minister's wife slapped Madam Qi hard, her voice breaking. "Do you know how many people you've hurt because of this? How is Huixin supposed to live now?"
“But they are siblings, and I absolutely cannot stand by and watch them get married; it would be against human ethics.”
Xu Huixin almost fainted from crying; she couldn't stand up and her face was completely pale.
"Master, what should we do now?"
Prime Minister Xu's face was gloomy, and he wished he could poison Madam Qi on the spot. He gritted his teeth and said, "What should we do? If we don't want Huixin to be driven to death by rumors, we should send her out of the capital first and wait until the public opinion calms down."
"Where can this be appeased? Those people have always been jealous of our success."
"If all else fails, we can marry Huixin off to another place. I have several students..."
"Father, I will not marry." Xu Huixin didn't even dare to look at Si Hengnian. "I would rather become a nun than marry again."
The Prime Minister's wife continued to weep, "My poor, wretched daughter!"
Madam Qi was no better off than her. She finally realized her mistake and regretted it. If she hadn't committed those sins back then, she wouldn't be in this predicament now.
Although the Qi family is not as powerful and influential as the Prime Minister's family, it is still considered wealthy. Moreover, they have a brother named Hengnian who is a prince of a different surname, and the siblings have a good relationship. In this capital, even a prince could marry into the family. It's all her fault! It's all her fault!
Prime Minister Xu and his wife hated Madam Qi to the core. Although Madam Qi had committed many evil deeds, she was, after all, the birth mother of Prince Xun Si Hengnian and the daughter Huixin whom he had raised for so many years. They could not deal with her for the time being.
"What about Zidane? Since he failed to manage his own affairs, he should bear the consequences!"
Prime Minister Xu was filled with rage but had nowhere to vent it, so he set his sights on Qi Da, the most innocent head of the Qi family.
“My father has no interest in getting involved in your affairs.” Qi Jiejing arrived late, her expression calm and her demeanor composed, not at all like the daughter of a merchant.
It was precisely because of her noble bearing that Prime Minister Xu and his wife believed for a moment that she was their biological daughter.
The two men had mixed feelings. They had thought that their own daughter, who had been switched with the daughter of a merchant, would become petty and narrow-minded. However, they were surprised to find that she was so calm, composed, and had a transcendent air about her.
"Jing'er..." The Prime Minister's wife wanted to step forward to take a closer look at her, but Qi Jiejing dodged her.
"What happened back then was indeed my mother's own doing, and you can do whatever you want with her. But my father was never involved and knew nothing about it, so please don't involve him."
“Jing’er, he is not your father, we are your family.”
Qi Jiejing smiled jokingly: "So, you two aren't Xu Huixin's parents either?"
Hsu Hui-hsin was struck as if by a heavy blow; at this moment, she resembled a fragile porcelain doll, teetering on the verge of collapse.
"Huixin, of course you are still your mother and father's daughter. You were a young lady of the Prime Minister's mansion before, and you will be in the future," the Prime Minister's wife said, hugging her with great affection.
Although they had just learned that the daughter they had raised for many years was not their biological child, they had developed feelings for her, so it was impossible for Prime Minister Xu and his wife to give up on Xu Huixin.
Qi Jiejing shrugged and smiled: "So, since you can't bear to part with Xu Huixin, I must have a lot of feelings for my father too. I would never agree to disown my father."
Upon hearing this, Prime Minister Xu and his wife were displeased again, feeling that she was too willful. How could she recognize a mere merchant as her father? She was simply ungrateful!
Seeing their expressions, Qi Jiejing guessed what they were thinking and simply laid it out: "How about this, since you can't bear to part with Xu Huixin anyway, and I don't want to be some kind of daughter of a prime minister, why don't we just stay the same as before and say that Xu Huixin and I were not switched at birth, and that my mother has a fit of hysteria."
"Now that this has caused such a sensation, how can we pretend it didn't happen? As long as His Highness Prince Xun and Huixin don't get married, the speculation from the outside world will never stop."
Prime Minister Xu's words shattered all of his wife's illusions. Indeed, the affair between Huixin and Prince Xun had caused quite a stir and was witnessed by all the ladies. It even offended the General's Mansion. Prince Xun had even declared that he would marry no one but Huixin. If the two children were not together in the future, who could not guess the truth behind it?
But they are siblings, and you can't force them to get married just to appease public opinion. That would be against human ethics and would be punished by heaven!
"Why not let Jing'er marry Prince Xun in her place? After she marries into the Prince's mansion, she won't show her face anymore." The Prime Minister's wife had a flash of inspiration. The more she thought about it, the better she felt. It could not only quell public opinion, but also allow her to continue to have Prince Xun as her son-in-law.
Qi Jiejing and Si Hengnian had never gotten along well since childhood, and both of them turned pale upon hearing this suggestion.
Especially since Qi Jiejing is the only one among everyone present who knows the whole truth, it's even more impossible for her to agree. What do these people in the room take her for? Even her father has never made such a decision for her.
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